Improvement in railway-cars for preventing accidents



F. W. JENKINS. Car-Track Clearer.

Patentedlune 19, 1866.

O-IJI'NOGHAFNEHK WASHINGTON. D. C.

PATENT OFFICE*a F. W. JENKINS, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN RAILWAY-CARS FOR PREVENTING ACCIDENTS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 55,663, dated June 19,1866.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that 1, F. W. JENKINS, olBrooklyn, in the county of Kingsand State of New York, have invented anew and useful Improve- Inent inRailway-Gars, and I do hereby declare that the following is a full,clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilledin the art to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompany-v ing drawings, forming part of this specification.

The present invention relates to an attachment for street-railway ears,although it can be applied with advantage to other railwaycars, theobject of which is to prevent the oeeurrence of accidents to the lifeand limbs of persons who, by carelessness or mischance, happen to fallunder the cars, across the rails, and in front of the car-wheels whilethe ears are in motion; and it consists in hanging the upper end of avertical roller in and to the bottom or under side of the car and infront of each wheel of the same, or such ones as may be deemed necessaryor desirable, which rollers extend nearly to the rails of the railwayupon which such wheels run, and are so hung as not only to turn in theirbearings of the car-bottom at their upper ends, but also to play up anddown in a vertical plane, so as to accommodate themselves to the rockingmotion of the cars, whereby in case any person should by accident fallacross the rails of the railway and in front of the car as it is passingover them, such person, by the action and rotation of said rollers, asthey strike and come in contact with him, will be immediately thrown offand to one side of the rails without producing but little, if any,bodily injury.

ln accompanying plate of drawings my improvements are illustrated,Figure 1 being a side elevation of the platform of a car with themapplied to it, and Fi g. 2 a partial verticalv section taken in theplane of the linexx, Fig. 1.

Similar letters ot' reference indicate like parts.

A in the drawings represents the platform of a car, supported uponwheels B at each end, which Wheels are hung to the carin the usualmanner for street or other railway cars; O, a roller placed directly infront of the wheels B, which roller at its ripper end is hung in thebottom or under side of the platform of the car, so as to freely turn orrevolve therein, and is to extend downward nearly to the top of the railover which the wheel before which it is hung moves. This roller in thedirection of its length is made of the shape of a trun cated cone, withthe larger base at its lower end, and in addition to being hung so as torevolve in its bearin gs upon the under side of the car, which bearingin the present instance is a cap or tube, D, is arranged so as to playin and out ofthe said cap in a vertical direction or plane, moving uponthe center spindle, E,of such cap, in order to accommodate itself to therocking motion of the car as it moves over the rails.

In addition to the roller O, hung to the under side of the car, asexplained, I intend to similarly hang one in front of each wheel of thecar, whatever the direction may be in which the ear moves, each rollerbeing hung in such a position upon the car as to offer no obstruction tothe operation of the brakes or any other necessary parts of the car.

By hanging a roller in front of each carwheel, as explained, it isplainly apparent that, if any person should by mischa-nce or accidentfall upon the rails in front of the car, the roller as it strikes theperson will be revolved or rota-ted in its bearings, and by this meanshave a great tendency to throw the person immediately olf and to oneside of the rails, and thus away from the car-wheels, thereby preventingany injury either to thelit'e or limbs of the person, the said action ofthe roller producing but slight it any injury to the person.

One of the principal objects in having the rollers of a length to nearlyreach the rail is to prevent any possibility of a persons limbsV workingunder the same; and therefore, in order to secure this result, theroller Inust be allowed a play in a vertical direction, as explained, orotherwise the rocking Inotion of the car would strain the rollers and beinclined to break or snap them.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is .I

l. A rolleror rollers hung in avertical plane in front ofthe wheels of arailway-car, and so as to turn thereon, substantially as and for thepurpose described.

2. So hanging the roller O to railway-oars that it can have a play in avertical direction, substantially as described, and for the pur-A posespecified.

FRANK W. JENKINS.

Vitnesses W. A. PERRY, CORNELIUS TRAVIS.

